


Guilty by Association

by portbleck



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, I'll tag as I go, Imprisonment, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-08
Updated: 2016-02-03
Packaged: 2018-05-12 15:08:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5670346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/portbleck/pseuds/portbleck
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the fusion incident, Blue Diamond takes the other Rubies into custody and starts to experiment. What emerges is a self indulgent poly slow build for some characters who I wanna see more of.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Aftermath

Ruby felt the foundations of her being start to wobble, her physical form becoming less developed and less saturated, until the cement holding her together came undone and two of her constituent parts began to crumble

Those fragmenting parts faded to white.

They started to individually reconstitute themselves when they had gotten over the trauma.

Strings of data winded themselves around each other according to the programming inherent within their minds. It took no conscious effort, in fact their thoughts only began to emerge gradually. First, they knew they were gems, then they knew they were Rubies, then their roles, then their gem placements. They became sentient, then sapient. After that, their history and experience played out before them in tandem. All leading up to the feeling of retreating into their gems.

The first Ruby was startled into materialisation, the blinding light of her inner being was abruptly replaced by the darkness spotted with splotches of white. The automatic adjustment of her perception to her surroundings happened within a matter of seconds, registering the teal hold of what must be a diamond ship. Why was she not in a reformation bay? These certainly didn’t look like Quartz barracks due to the colour, but the cold, clinical and bare room she was in lacked the opulence of aristocratic class who blue diamond surrounded herself with.

She was able to get up off the floor where she’d been placed to reform and walked towards where the walls narrowed the room into a hallway until she reached a glowing electrical barrier similar to those she had seen in holding cells for rebellious gems. Now _that_ made her panic.

Her eyes darted carefully around the high ceilinged cell, trying to scramble some clue as to the purpose of her detainment. Finally, her line of sight landed on some shapes beyond the barrier. There was a crossroads of rooms, hers being one, another being a set of doors and two others being rooms identical to the one she was in.

There was a glow of light emitting from the room opposite her, another gem reforming.

As the second Ruby burst into existence, she languidly stretched her arms about her head, as if having been woken from a nap. As she did so, the Ruby across the way saw the glint of of a gem on the back of her hand. Before being able to notice anything else, she heard her name in a familiar tone of voice. 

“Another Ruby? Were you protecting the Sapphire with me?” She responded.

She raised her gem imbedded bicep to the barrier as she saw her fellow solider approach.

“So you got proofed too?”

“Yeah.”

“Is the other one here?”

“There are three rooms, so probably.”

“The Sapphire was hurt then?”

“She’s gotta be; we’re gonna get shattered.” Ruby said with breezy pessimism.

There was a noise of disgruntled disbelief.

“No, dummy, we won’t. The palm-gem Ruby didn’t poof like we did, I felt it. She probably beat up the rebels all by herself. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were in that other room, captive.” 

“Then why are we here too, genius?” The other retorted, sneering.

“Well we did poof… Though that Quartz was really strong, and she didn’t even have to unfuse us to make us poof… So, we did mess up and we’ll have to pay for it somehow.”

“I’m telling you, we’ll just be shattered.” Ruby said with a sigh.

At this point, the gem fisted Ruby was getting huffy, crossing her thick arms over her chest and squinting across the small stretch of hall and fixing her fellow battalion member with a look of petulant demand. She threw her hands out of her where they had been folded and asked defiantly:

“Oh yeah? And what makes you such an expert? Are you a lonsdaleite now? I bet you smash gems all day with your huge height and fists as big as meteors and pretty, flowing hair.”

The other Ruby came back with an intense glare and a sadistically indulgent grimace.

“This isn’t the first time I’ve been sent to handle traitors, you know,” she craned her neck as she leaned closer in, “There were more of us that time, we took down this quartz kindergarten that had started producing servant gems on the side and selling them.”

She chuckled nostalgically.

“So yeah, we got there and- you know the drill. We started to poof and bubble all the gems there, sending the criminals to the prison bay, the illegal produce to Yellow Diamond’s ship and breaking all the growing gems.”

Ruby licked her lips in nervous anticipation of the other’s story.

“And I was with this Citrine, right? We had destroyed all the gems in our vector, and then we find a Pearl farm.”

“Really?”

“Oh yeah. Obviously there are loads of failed attempts in there, but also two successfully growing Pearls. We really can’t believe it, so the Citrine says that she’ll take them straight to Yellow Diamond to show her allegiance. And when she’s there, on her knees at her throne, what does Yellow Diamond do?” 

She asks this with performance, retreating into the storytelling to observe the Ruby opposite’s baited breath and widened eyes.

“She walks down the stairs slowly, everyone in the room is quiet, then she makes her way across the hall, puts a hand on her shoulder and the Citrine is trying to keep it together because Yellow Diamond’s hand is on her. _Then_ , she stabs her finger _through_ the gem on her clavicle and just- OW!”

Pale blue currents suddenly raced up her skin, as in getting so much into her story, Ruby had brought her arm up to lean on the barrier and accidentally shocked herself.

“Well? What happened next?!” The Ruby two rooms over yelled.

“C-can you not see that I am in PAIN, RUBY?!”

“Yeah but if they're gonna shatter us I wanna know why!”

“Everyone shocked, she t-turns away dramatically, crushes t-the Pearls underneath her big fancy D-Diamond boots. They're perfect and unreasonable. Moral of the story is we’re gonna get s-sHATTERED!”

Just on that cue, the large door to the hallway clanged open, eliciting a short, wavering shriek from both the Rubies as they leapt against the wall. 

A pair of large Chalcedony jailers strode into their now familiar little crossroad, both carrying a smaller, limp, cerise figure. One let go of the arm she’d held and it drooped at the prisoner’s side, refusing to pick up her arm to focus on the continued and intent action of keeping her head bowed. The jailer did something out of the line of sight of the Rubies and then the electrical field was down and the new gem was forced up straight, then into the cell. She was slightly taller than the inquisitive gems who had quickly gotten over their shock, only a vague sense of danger lingering in their hesitancy to ask questions.

Due to her gem cut, a burgundy triangle, they guessed her to be a Topaz.

Both Rubies were eager to learn what they could about their situation from the newcomer, however, being collapsed in a bleak heap, staring at the ceiling for too long, then rolling over onto her side was not the best indicator of interest in conversation.

The Rubies decided not to bother her with a mutual shrug, non verbally conveying to wait before the inquisition started. They stuck to what, and who they knew by sitting down crossed legged and resuming a state of quiet loss of thought as they often did to pass the time on long journeys.


	2. Meeting the Diamond

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is basically just a bunch of gems being all shocked about the plotline (which the reader probably will not be shocked by or will think I'm mischaracterising Blue D)

The Topaz proved responsive after a couple of hours and that was when the Rubies knew just how much trouble they’d been landed in.

She had been an assistant to a follower of Pink Diamond, Topaz was complicit in the activities of the traitor gem, yet she had been spared from being shattered because of her low profile, her manager had been publicly executed alongside other Pink Diamond followers captured during a raid on a commercial Homeworld colony, but she was left over. It was decided that instead, she’d be donated by the judiciary system, for experimentation. 

The Rubies too, would not be shattered, but instead experimented on.

Both shuddered at the thought of what they’d face at the hands of Blue Diamond. Yellow Diamond carried out the bulk of tests, creating weapons such as the light prism which helped win wars eons ago. Yet Blue Diamond’s were more eclectic, and certainly less public. She carried out investigations for the sake of her own curiosity and, it's speculated, for fundamental understanding as to the nature of gems, facilitating the research of the other diamonds.

Ruby, though glad her peer was wrong about being shattered, couldn’t help but wonder what kind of investigation would involve them in their current states: fully formed and thinking gems, instead of their physically retreated gemstones.

Just across from her, Ruby had a considerably dimmer and more frantic understanding of her situation. Whatever treatment they’d undergo, she was certain it was worse than the humiliating crushing of her gemstone. To have her experience broken into fragments to be scattered to the wind was an awful, yet knowable fate. Whatever gruesome contortions of her being she would be subject to were detached from her understanding of how society dealt justice. The conversation with the balefully downtrodden Topaz had only confirmed her fear.

The three common gems sat in their dim little cells in isolation, the buzz of the electrical barriers droning their thought into an internal monotony of blunted dread.

Their razor’s point hearing was put into use as they collectively sensed the fells of heavy footsteps approaching. This shook them out of their hushed introspection, as they began to lift their heads and cast nervous glances at each other. Topaz and one Ruby, more sure of their fate to begin with, met their eyes in knowing anticipation as the other Ruby edged towards the barrier, listening intently before anxiously whispering:

“It’s definitely those guards.”

At this point, the Topaz hugged her arms around her knees and tucked herself into a corner, huffing.

The metallic whirrs of the door unlocking, followed by the glide of the doors across the floor was made Ruby heave in a breath.  
It was released with the abrupt clash the doors being opened fully.

“You are to come with us.” Stated the Chalcedony on the right.

Her partner branded three sets of electrical shackles, a chain linking them so as to minimize risk of escape with two guards handling three prisoners. Though common gems wouldn’t actively try to go up against Quartz gems, it was just a precaution.

The Rubies’ barriers were lowered first. The cuffs were clipped on to their wrists, then an additional clip was tied around the area surrounding their gem. When they were turned on, the shackles produced a current that caused both soldiers to grunt in pain.

“Should you step beyond your bounds, you shall receive another shock.”

Both nodded in understanding, straightening their backs out once they’d gotten over the shock.

Ruby waved placatingly at the visibly startled Topaz, the gem on her hand gleaming in the low light.

Once her cell door was lowered the Topaz was also shackled, but spared the lesson taught to her cellmates.

Finally, the three were linked together with a chain, the guards pulling the chords between them along, so they created a V formation trailing behind them; Topaz trudging in the middle, with the Rubies lagging at the back.

Exiting their quarters, the gems were able to see just how elaborate the ship was, the carved reflective glass of the floor dulling the footsteps of the somber procession.

Ruby deduced that it must be a sister ship to Blue Diamond’s elegant cruiser that would speed huge galleries of her various advisers and courtiers from colony to colony. This ship however, was filled with a stoic selection of less powerful, more studious gems. Where there should have been quarters there were labs, and where there should have been a War Room there was an extensive library. Debates concerning the use of colonies, distribution of warp pads and construction of buildings happened in the main hall, whilst briefs of the missions assigned to soldiers would be transmitted from the War Room.

Finally the corridor opened out into the throne room.

The brilliant sheen of light reflecting off of polished azure floors and ceilings tapered away into the dark far end of the hall. The intended effect was obvious. Amidst the blinding blue refractions, your eyes were drawn to the void. 

As they approached the ominous mass, her navy, gleaming skin was what prompted them to lower their eyes in reverence.

None of them had ever been this close to a Diamond.

She commanded attention with her minimalistic, palatial glory. It was as she raised a slender hand that the guards stopped and kneeled before her.

The Topaz curtsied, holding her body in a low position as the Rubies flanking her crossed an arm over their chests and then stood to attention, eyes downcast.

The hand was waved, dismissing both guards.

“Do you know why you are in my custody?”

Her voice was unnervingly smooth, it brought their scattered thoughts into a single wavelength of anxiety.

“I am addressing the two Rubies.”

Ruby’s military trained posture became weak at that, her spine turned from iron to quick silver and she curled the gem on her fist protectively into the side of her body.

Neither dared speak, afraid of what might happen if they misrepresented their position, afraid of what repercussions would be in store if they failed to comply.

“No? I didn’t think you did.”

Was this it? Had they failed her test? Were they supposed to prostrate themselves in front of her for forgiveness?

“Has the absence of your squadron leader struck you as particularly odd? Well, it should.”

Ruby’s mind scrambled to guess what conclusion this clue could lead to, what possibility had she overlooked?

“You aren’t here because you failed to protect the Sapphire; you are here because your third member overstepped her bounds grievously. She and the Sapphire fused.”

All of the gems couldn’t help but break their pointed avoidance of her unreadable expression. Ruby’s already weakened stance crumpled into a limp-limbed caricature of shock, her comrade squawked a dumbfounded little noise before clamping her hands over her mouth in a realization of poor etiquette and Topaz just looked back and forth between her strange new bedfellows. If their leader was capable of that, then what were _two_ of them capable of.

“Needless to say, this is a transgression not only against natural order, but against Homeworld. It has been dealt with properly. Two gems of ranking as vastly different as those should never have fused, nor should it be possible. And yet…”

Topaz’s ears perked up the pause.

“There may be knowledge to be gained from this wrongdoing.”

On this cue, the Quartz soldiers re-emerged, this time with several other prisoners: Star Rubies, a Chrysoberyl, another Topaz and a set of Spinels of various colours.

In a mirrored reflection of the test subjects being brought forward, members of her council lined the sides of the room, enclosing in with curious, disgusted eyes. As they did this, Blue Diamond extended her ever powerful palm to the Pearl at her side, having her sit on her hand like a trained canary.

Her expression remained as firmly passive as before, but the intent in her voice was now far more apparent than prior, cold indifference. It was no longer awe inspiring or thrilling. Simply overwhelming.

“Fuse for me. So that knowledge can be gained from this awful affair, this is your chance at being useful to your race and to your Diamonds. Now redeem yourselves.”

The subjects of the experiment remained in stagnant shock, the threatening neutrality of the deity baring down on them, and the soulful expression on the half of the Pearl’s face to be seen burrowed deep into Ruby’s rapidly contracting chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the next chapter is gonna be blue pearl pov so stay tuned


	3. Her Diamond

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl POV on the fusion experiments

Blue Pearl had always been a perfect physical representation of decadence. Pretty and frail as all Pearls should be, but fit to suit her Diamond. Her slim shoulders were designed to be fixed in her stance of attendance, her mouth designed to only quirk at the corners when commanded. 

Pearl didn’t mind though. Silence was a lenient virtue.

Despite her role, despite being intimately acquainted with her Diamond, this was a certain kind of isolation that bred contemplation. She understood that she and her Diamond were of a different caste and a different kind, so the two never looked to each other for anything other than displays of power and tactility which kept them on different wavelengths.

It was fine. It allowed for thought to emerge, more than it would have been able to under the scrutiny of another gem with the stress tests of socialisation and secretarial duty that Yellow Diamond put on her Pearl.

Pearl enjoyed visits to this ship. She preferred the trained eyes of engineers and scientists over the haughty sneers that the usual galley breathed.

The experiments themselves were interesting too, what little she saw of them in the beginning. Once Blue Diamond began became more involved supervising experiments, she saw how revolting they could often get.

Even then, as much as it pained her to say, her curiosity occasionally overcame her revulsion.

Now was unfortunately one such time. Her legs were folded to her side on Blue Diamond’s open palm as she tried to keep her lithe fingers coiled into loose fists in her lap. She could hardly bare to watch the panicked faces of the gems below, in spite of her fascination.

This was to be the second time in history that gems of different types would fuse, and the second time she would be witness to it happening.

The scared grimace of first Ruby, who’d fused with the Sapphire, was not unlike those of the various common gems in stunned paralysis below. She saw one glance at the Topaz they’d come in with, whilst her partner’s eyes seemed to meet hers.

Her shoulders rose by a fraction and stiffened. Was she blaming her? For being witness to this cruel circus act? 

No, that wasn't it, it was more pleading. Not that she could do anything about the Ruby’s, or any of their predicaments. Looking into her eyes, she realised she was just looking for empathy. And that was what caused her to feel ashamed, the Ruby was just looking to experience some commonality, conveying her own emotions to someone else.

She looked down again, and saw the expression go from mournful to resolute, her eyes still begged but her jaw had squared.

“Oh, Diamond!” She announced, coming to the front of the crowd anxious statues. “It would be the highest honour to serve you.”

One knee hit the ground as she repeated the warlike show of loyalty and laid an open-palmed hand over her breast, exposing the gem of the back of her hand for the court to see. Her eyes were lowered and her stance was all at once sturdy and submissive.

This was apparently what was needed to break the rag-tag group of test subjects out of their haze. The air was ripe with the feel of broken social norms but the one thing that made them resolute was survival through subservience.

Each gem followed the Ruby soon after, no longer using their individual displays of formality, but adopting Ruby’s military show by kneeling and bowing. They all echoed her by uttering ‘the highest honour’ as they did so.

Pearl was struck by this Ruby. She’d saved the test subjects a deal of pain by uniting them before further instruction was required. This is what made the experiment that much worse. These were scared but intelligent gems. They weren’t being experimented on in their purest form, this was just as much a psychological experiment in her eyes.

At least that Ruby showed initiative and led by example.

A brush of air came from behind Pearl as she felt her Diamond sigh and nod briefly.

They sprung into action after that, each frantically pairing up. Some had clearly never fused before, but the others, including the Rubies, took lead in demonstrating fusion pair techniques. Rubies fused by stacking like bricks, a jump into a pose of one standing on the other’s shoulders.

“At this point, your gems should begin to glow, and you'll merge being to become a bigger version of you, or I guess a hybrid.” Barked out the surlier Ruby that Pearl had seen talking to one of the Topazes.

Each of the gems nodded and made a note of the stance, they rearranged the gathering as the group of five Spinels took their place in explanation. The one who came forward appeared to be of Yellow Diamond’s court, her green ponytail falling onto the distinctive shoulder pads of a technician’s supervisor. Obviously she’d be well suited for explanation.

“We fuse by linking hands spinning until our gems being to glow.”

As a demonstration, the two purple spinels of the group grasped hands and spun until the gems, who were already Quartz-like in stature became a sinewy giant of half Blue Diamond's height.

Pearl could see the Topazes wearily looking at each other. When the rest of the prisoners turned to each other it became clear why. Topazes would never have reason to fuse, so why would they know of their fusion positions?

The rest of them seemed to grasp it fairly quickly and then started hesitantly pairing up with other Gems.

As Pearl had suspected, the red Topaz came trotting over to the reserved Ruby she’d come in with. There was a strange camaraderie between the pair that Pearl could have only assumed was a result of sharing a cell, they seemed more resigned to their fate than others, some of whom were clearly still panicking.

Pearl turned her attention now to the other Ruby, the one who’d spoke out, she and the Chrysoberyl locked eyes. The test subjects began to tentatively move, uneven rhythms flowing throughout the room.

Some spun, some stacked, the minutes of awkward fumbling elongated until her Diamond placed Pearl in her lap as she went from calmly dictatorial to calmly disappointed. Whilst no one could see through her veneer of placidity, the air was palpable with non verbal loss of interest, at least it was to Pearl.

The Ruby and the Chrysoberyl had been rotating and connecting in all manner of fashions but it wasn't working. Pearl watched as Ruby’s once confident expression became more and more scared, whilst Chrysoberyl was taking long, deep breaths every time her furrowed brows needed to be smoothed out to concentrate. 

“I am going to retire to the library. Continue your efforts.” The smooth waves of her Diamond’s voice reverberated before Pearl slid down her leg to the floor and Blue Diamond stood to leave.

The gems sprung apart like a clock wound too tight and allowed her to pass through the wide berth of the hall.

Pearl was no longer needed for the public display, yet she still followed, wishing to see the rest of the fusion attempts but willing to concede a trip to the library as supplement.

Her chin raised but hands submissively intertwined at her front, she followed behind her Diamond.

Behind her fringe, she stole glances at the array of common gems at her sides, all standing to grim attention as her Diamond passed. The gems of Yellow Diamond’s troops had kept their eyes fixedly in the upper middle distance, Blue Diamond’s lowered their eyes respectfully and the former Pink Diamond loyalists along with soldiers looked straight ahead nervously. All accept for the conspiring Ruby and Topaz, who were following Pearl with stony eyes.

It was intimidating, but she wouldn’t risk their lives by alerting anyone to their lack of social conduct. Her eyes met with this other, callous Ruby and even though nothing about the position of her head gave away what was playing out behind her locks, the Ruby seemed to meet them back. 

Her and her Diamond glided along the corridor until reaching the large archway full of tomes and datapads. Of course, keeping them all as digital imprints would have been more efficient, but Blue Diamond enjoyed the physicality of somethings, engravings and such from when the Gempire was but a single home planet and the distribution of information wasn't as standardized or accessible.

“Pearl.”

On hearing her Diamond call her, Pearl turned around and opened her stance to be less tense to hear her demands.

“Give me the carvings on gem types and hardness.”

Pearl silently nodded and with no little effort, produced the thin slabs from her gemstone. She concentrated on emptying herself of her own code and becoming a vessel, allowing her to reach into herself and bring the tablets out.

As she offered these votive stones, she let her gaze fall to the floor, when she saw the hood of her Diamond lowered by long, slender fingers.

“Look at me, Pearl.”

Pearl raised her eyes immediately, greeted by azure eyes, pensive and many.

And also the large hand bent to accept her offering that she’d missed in her avoidance of eye contact.

After placing them in Blue Diamond’s palm, Pearl curtsied and took her leave, ascending the spiral steps too small for any but her Diamond’s assistants to explore what the collection had on soldier gems.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok this did take ages but i was doing mock exams

**Author's Note:**

> lonsdaleite is the strongest naturally occurring gemstone so i just used it as the thing that shatters other gems (i might post explanations for gem oc choices if theres a weird one in a chapter)


End file.
